Katherine resident speaks out against juvenile crime, "enough is enough"

Lauren Kingsley is calling for Katherine police and services to "do more" when it comes to juvenile crime, after a wave of offences in the town.

Having lived in Katherine for almost 16 years, Ms Kingsley said she had never seen crimes committed by youths this severe.

"I am sick of waking up in the morning or coming home and finding my belongings from my garage have been rummaged through and stolen or thrown across the yard. Tools and sentimental items that were boxed in the garage have been broken. My car has been rummaged through and had money stolen, it's horrible.

"They're all kids or young adults. The oldest was about 25 and the youngest was about eight, and there are about 10 different youth involved. We have watched them run through ours and neighbours yards.

"During the school holidays I think most of it was boredom, but there are the occasional few who are looking for smokes, booze and money, or anything of value."

Ms Kingsley said each time they reported crimes to police, their response was disheartening.

"They aren't doing very much because of the legislation that protects the kids. So the best they did was pull up next to the kids as they were walking in the street and said not to go onto other people's properties," she said.

"We were told by police, and I quote 'the lawyer is going to say they were just there to knock on your door and see if you were home.' Yeah right, at 4am?"

"Changes need to be made to hold these kids accountable. They know they are doing the wrong thing and they think they're invincible and because of it crime is increasing."

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Ms Kingsley said they had taken steps to try and stop the burglaries but they didn't appeared to have worked.

"We have bought security cameras and installed them around the property, but they know they are being watched and that we know who they are, but they don't care," she said.

"We wanted to put up a fence but with our property on the corner of a cul-de-sac it doesn't work with our property line."

Ms Kingsley said she felt the crimes were damaging Katherine's reputation.

"I've lived here for 16 years and it has never been as bad as what it is at the moment. I just feel really disappointed in the town," she said.

"Crime is also deterring people from moving to town. The population has been decreasing over the years, I am sure there are other reasons for that but juvenile crime is making people not want to be here. I don't want to live here if this is going to keep happening.

"I think anyone who has been done-over more then once by these kids are thinking the same thing. What can we do?

"I would like to see more patrols. But these kids need to be charged and taken into custody. Enough is Enough."

Katherine District Acting Superintendent Paul Lawson said Northern Territory Police had not recorded a marked increase in property offences in Katherine.

"The Katherine region has its own strike force dedicated to addressing youth and property crime. Strike Force Cerberus was formed in 2021.

"Its purpose has been to reduce the rate and incidence of volume crime in Katherine, target known property crime offenders, monitor offenders to ensure compliance with bail conditions and work collaboratively with partner agencies through the Multi Agency Community Child Safety Team (MACCST) to ensure actionable holistic outcomes are achieved for identified at risk youth."

Acting Superintendent Lawson said a large proportion of property offences were opportunistic and the community could take steps to reduce the risk of becoming a victim.

"Such as ensuring properties are secure, their vehicles locked and valuable objects or car keys are not easily spotted through windows. There are a number of useful resources available on the Neighbourhood Watch website.

"Incidents are sometimes recorded and uploaded to social media without police being notified. We always encourage people to report offences directly for action by police by contacting 131 444 or in the case of an emergency 000."

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